Veronica Wagner placed 46th all-around in team prelims at the 2007 World Championships, earning the Swedish women their only individual berth for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Wagner won the all-around title at the Swedish Championships last month but the SOC told her and her coach Staffan Soderberg shortly after that that they are not sending her to represent Sweden. [QUOTE] "They think she is too injured to be well prepared," Soderberg told IG. "Her doctor, the ortoped who was with us on the floor during Competition I [preliminaries] in Athens in 2004, does not agree with the Olympic Committee, but they build their decision on what two physiotherapists are saying." Soderberg said the injury in question was originally a back problem, but has led to an imbalance of Wagner's left knee. "The back is now OK, but she is still having a little pain in the knee," Soderberg said. "It's not inside the knee, but on the back side of the knee, and it's probably caused by the ichias nerve. As I said, the specialist says it's not a big issue, but for the SOC it obviously was." Soderberg cited Wagner's performance at the Swedish Championships as evidence of her fitness for the Beijing Games that will take place in August. "On floor she scored exactly the same as her personal best on that event," he said. "On beam she was 0.15 from her personal best." (See video below). Stefan Lindeberg, a representative of the SOC, clarified the committee's decision. "The reason for not sending Veronica Wagner to the Games is that she has had different injury problems since last autumn," Lindeberg told IG. "She will still need weeks of rehab before being able to increase her training load." [/QUOTE] Online petititon rallying for a change in decision from the SOC: http://www.namninsamling.se/index.php?sida=2&nid=2208 . Fields are Namn = name, Stad/ort = city/country, Skriv under = submit the form. So far more than 4,200 people have signed it. 2008 Swedish Nationals - Veronica Wagner Beam [YOUTUBE]M7D2UUvhek8[/YOUTUBE] via International Gymnast: "Disappointed Wagner Rallies Support for Olympic Participation" http://www.intlgymnast.com/Online-Features/News/438.html They chose an appropriate picture of Wagner to match their title: She gets the spot for Sweden and doesn't get to go when her ortho says she is fine, and after winning the Swedish National Championships.